Perfection in abstraction through music is almost unachievable in the era of streaming. Twenty years ago Radiohead achieved it on Okay Computer, and before that Joy Division on Unknown Pleasures.
It’ll be a while until we can have the perspective on Beyondless – the fourth album from Danish four-piece Iceage – to know if it lasts the test of time, but for now it’s faultless.
Opening song ‘Hurrah’ sees the band returning to the bleak, monochrome rhythms of its first two albums, New Brigade (2011) and You’re Nothing (2013). This precedent is adhered to for the entirety of the album resulting in an intoxicating and jagged black.
‘Catch It’ elicits a bleakness comparable to Francisco Goya’s painting Saturn Devouring His Son, and just like the 19th century Spanish painter known for his unprecedented use of black on black, the transference from medium to audience is impactful.
The influence of Nick Cave’s transition from The Boys Next Door to The Birthday Party is worn proudly on title track ‘Beyondless’, as a Warren Ellis-style violin accompanies the guitar licks and riffs. However, what’s most impressive is that on ‘Beyondless’, Iceage vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt shifts his styling from what was previously an excellent Cave impersonation to his own take on punk baritone.
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